Beginning in Riichi City

You'll be led through the basics of the game, and then it will leave you to your own designs. From here, you can start using the app like normal! You should take particular notice of the Newcomer's Trial. Completing the entire Newcomer's Trial will award you with many important items, including currency,  decorations like tilebacks and tables, free gacha spins, and at completion, a new costume for Miyake Kanna and the ability to sign your profile!  We'll walk through the entire tutorial chapter by chapter. Use the hyperlinks in the Newcomers Trial to find the features of the app that you're supposed to check. Don't feel intimidated by the amount of text here! If you get stuck trying to figure out how to clear something, just check the Chapter you're stuck on. I do have some additional commentary added if you'd like to read some of my own opinions about whatever.

Chapter I

Check the Yaku and Han page once.  The Rules are in the Hamburger Menu at the bottom left of the Lobby Screen. Make sure to specifically study the conditions for Riichi, Yakuhai, and Tanyao. These are some of the simplest yaku to learn and are immediately useful.
Complete a match. Don't feel pressure jumping into Ranked Match. This is where the majority of your games will take place. In the earliest ranks while you may lose R, you cannot lose Dan Ranking. Try to get used to the Hanchan length of games, as this is the standard length. Here you will attempt to complete the other tasks in the chapter.
Declare Riichi or Call Chii/Pon/Kan once in a match. Knowing the Tanyao or Yakuhai yaku can make it easier to call tiles without getting stuck without a yaku to win with.
Play a hand without dealing in. You'll probably complete this one without effort, but it it is giving you trouble, if someone declares Riichi, consider not trying to complete your hand, but instead trying to deal tiles that match the tiles in that Riichi'd player's discard pile. This is how you play defense in mahjong, and will become a skill you will start developing when you get more serious about the game.
Complete the chapter quiz. It's in your best interest not to guess on these questions, but to research and KNOW the answer, and come back to it if you are stumped. Learn your suit names (pin are the dots, man are the Chinese numbers, sou are the bamboos). Learn what Tanyao is from the Yaku and Han page.

Chapter II

Check the Characters List once. This is where you feed your mahjong homies precious sukiyaki, milk tea, and tennis shoes. Learn more about the Characters Page here.
Change a character once, Check a character's outfit once, Send 2 gifts to any character are all covered on the Characters page.
Complete a total of 3 achievements. In the course of playing that first game, sending gifts to characters, etc. You should be cleared on this.
Complete the chapter quiz. You'll need to know the difference between an East Only and a Hanchan game, and you'll need to know all about Yakuhai. One caveat, point sticks or chips are called Riichi Sticks by this app, which I personally think is a misleading translation. 

Chapter III

Draw in Gacha once. If you start the game with the tutorial, this should be covered. You can learn more about the Gacha Page here.
Claim the Daily Bonus once. The Daily Bonus is just a set amount of coins, accessed from the Shop. The red ! marks will guide you where you need to go.
Check the Shop - Exchange section once. This is probably mostly to call your attention to the Lucky Token that's on offer for 50 Gift Fragments.
Complete a total of 2 matches.  At this point, hopefully you've already played 2 matches. And if you have then....
Play a total of 3 hands without dealing in. ...you've hopefully avoided dealing in at least 3 hands!
Check the Rankings once. There's actually a lot of stuff you can find on the Rankings page,
Complete the chapter quiz. This quiz is mostly going to focus on the many types of Dora there are.

Chapter IV

Complete a total of 3 matches. In your next match, send your emotes and clear the next missions, Send an Emote in a match and Send a Voice Message in a match. If you need to learn how to do this, visit the Game Operation page.

Check the Achievements page once. You'll be setting up your Achievement badge display and clearing the task of Editing your Badges once. To learn more about Achievements and the badge display, you can visit the Achievements Page. When you've started clearing through some of the yaku in game, and depending on your placing, you probably will either have or will soon Complete a total of 5 achievements.

Link an email address to your account. This is so if you lose access, you have a location for a password to be mailed to you. 

Complete the chapter quiz. This one is about the app itself mostly. Remember, from Novice to A1, you cannot demote. You can play with minimal anxiety about your rank. You won't even lose ranking points until B2. Ranked matches are the main way to play Riichi City, but you also need to feel comfortable enough to make mistakes and learn by losing. If something happens that you don't really understand, you can always check the Log and go over your own matches. 

Mahjong is a game where you can only expect to win 25% of the time empirically. "getting good" at mahjong is about learning the rules, and analyzing the board state to find ways to increase that 25% a fraction of a percent at a time. Mahjong is a game of seeking incremental advantages whenever you can find them.

Chapter V

Rename a Character. Once again, personally I find this to be a really weird feature, but one of the things I like about games like this is that you can see what other people think is important. Just look up the name if you want to change it back, no problem!
Level up Friendship with a character to Lv.1. This may take some time. Personally, I would recommend first recycling all gifts you earn until you have the 50 gift fragments to buy the Lucky Token each week, Then only gifting liked items, saving the rest for dusting next week. Always check the items that your favorite Character needs for awakening, and if it involves certain gifts, make sure to hold on to those.
Clain the free Avatar Frame and Tiles in the Event Center. This is just the game's way of getting things into your Bag, so you can Change an Avatar Frame and Change a Tabletop or Tiles in your Bag. The Avatar Frame is changed on the Profile Page, the rest is changed on the Bag Page.
Complete a 3-Player match. 3P (also known as sanma) may seem like just a way to play with 1 less person, but the game has a different feeling.
You cannot call Chi in 3P, and you don't play with 2-8man, only 1 and 9. North Wind tiles have an active function: You can click "Kita" and display them outside your hand, drawing a tile from the deadwall. These are "Nukidora", and are worth 1 extra han each. In addition, self drawing wins (Tsumo) will pay you much less than a direct hit (Ron), as there is 1 less person on the table to pay you tsumo points.  As a former fighting game enthusiast, the way I like to frame it is that the standard 4P game seems like a traditional 1v1 fighting game, while 3P feels more like a versus game with active tagging and assists, where players are encouraged to be much more aggressive.

There are some people who will say that sanma is not "real mahjong" but that's just not true. The 3P ranked ladder on Riichi City gives ranking points ONLY to whoever finishes in 1st place, so there is a lot more incentive to go for the gusto. Just like there are many ways a fighting game can feel, different mahjong rulesets can lead to enjoyable, unique experiences. I love learning different mahjong rulesets, and hope that you will embrace learning everything as opposed to saying that only one thing is "real" mahjong. (It's ok to have those preferences, but don't make other people feel bad about what they like when it's as harmless as "mahjong rulesets")

Declare Riichi once in a match. If you haven't ripped this bandaid off yet, this is the time. Form your blocks, don't call tiles, and you'll clear this one.
Complete the chapter quiz. This one is going to go over the rule of furiten, which is the core feature of riichi mahjong that allows players to play defensively. Hopefully you've learned a little more about some additional yaku, and taken some notes about 3 player mahjong.

Chapter VI

You're almost ready to finish the newcomer's trial!

Check the 1-Round Challenge rules once. This is a special game mode in Riichi City, where you're wagering a certain amount of currency in an attempt to at least score a Mangan or greater on one hand. The bigger your hand is, the more you get paid out. When you go to Complete a 1-Round Challenge, I would HEAVILY ADVISE starting out to play for Coins and NOT FOR VOUCHERS until you are incredibly versed in mahjong. Please play responsibly :D Learn a little bit more about this mode on the 1-Round Challenge Page.

Win once in a match. It's ok if you haven't done this yet, but I have the feeling that you have. Just try to keep all that you've learned so far in mind. You CAN do it!
Check the Log once. The Log is really important to players who are looking to improve. Find out where all your winning tiles are, and evaluate whether or not your cuts make sense. You can learn more about the Log on the Log Page. From the Log Page, you can Bookmark a match. I tend to bookmark matches where I collect unique hands, Yakuman, or with really important plays to learn from.
Check a player's profile once. Just click on their portraits in game, and you can clear this one.
Add a friend. If you aren't playing Riichi City with anyone you know, you can always add me until my friends list is full :) just namesearch me or use my UID: